Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Polly Wanted, Got A Win

You know how I feel about Napoli. So when I saw he was due up third in the 9th with us up 2-1, I wanted us to get the first two guys out, walk Napoli, then get the third. And that's exactly how Aceves did it! Sox beat Texas, 2-1. It was Aviles's 2-out, 2-strike bloop in the top of the 9th that plated the eventual winning run. ¡Boricua!

Buchholz turned in his second great outing in a row. Encouraging.

A few things about tonight's broadcast:

This is Cody Ross at the moment he made a catch on a Hamilton fly ball. Would you say he's on the warning track? Me neither. But that's how Don Orsillo called it. Moments later he reiterated it was caught on the track. I could mow a fuckin' fresco into the grass in the space between Ross and the track.

Remember how Salty doinked a ball right off the top of the wall in the previous game? Tonight, they showed the same little mark the ball made on the fence that they showed last night. It was the same. Just a slight tear in the material. Yet Remy said they'd done some "repair work" to it since last night. Yeah, by the "Like Old Repair Co."!

Odd play in the 8th, when Padilla threw over to first, got the ball back, and threw right back over. The ball got away and the potential go-ahead run went to third. Weird thing was, the runner was standing right on the bag. It wasn't like he wasn't paying attention. There wasn't much of a reason for Padilla to throw back over immediately (something I don't know if I've ever even seen before). So the question was Why? Or, more like "What the fuck is he DOING?" Yet Orsillo and Remy didn't ask it. I feel like the question begged to be asked. But it never occurred to them. Maybe because there was no answer, other than "because he thought he could catch the guy off guard"--but the guy seemed to be on guard. Or at least on bag. [Update: In post-game, Adrian explained it--said that Andrus would play with the dirt with his head down after every pick-off attempt. Adrian told Padilla to throw back when that happened--but Padilla did it the one time Andrus didn't do it! This is what Remy and Orsillo should have been trying to figure out!]

Then Padilla plunks Beltre in the helmet, at which point the crowd booed incessantly. I know these people are from Texas, but come on, you'd have to reeeally be from Texas to think that was intentional. Like, from the decidedly non-citified regions.

One thing from the night before, too. Remember when they showed a shot of Atchison in the clubhouse or runway talking about his injury? In the background, there was a framed Red Sox road jersey. From what I could tell, this was the Rangers' nod to the visiting team--put up each team's jersey as they come to town. But it was the pre-2009 road jersey. Now I talk a lot about the logo that was tweaked at the same time the jersey was changed. And one thing I always say when talking about how it makes no sense that people don't know about the logo change is how you'll notice the team never comes out onto the field accidentally wearing the old uniform. Yet here's an example that shows that some people within MLB don't even know that part of the team's changes. Which took place more than three years ago. They don't notice it's different than the jerseys they're unpacking a few feet away? Again--bring the Marlins into that clubhouse right now, and I guarantee they locate a new Marlins jersey and have it framed within minutes. But for some reason....

And no, there was no context for that framed jersey. Maybe it was specifically an old Sox player's jersey that for some reason they use in the Rangers' visiting clubhouse. But I can't think of why that would be. You might say that maybe it was a series of Sox road jerseys from all throughout history. Well that would be crazy--especially when the White Sox come to town. But also, it didn't appear to be part of a series. It seemed to be alone on the wall. And since it wasn't the first or most recent style, there would have to be another framed jersey on at least one side of it, and there were none on the side we could see.

Finally, there's a guy in our neighborhood who walks around with a beautiful parrot. This is the best pic I could get of it, unfortunately. But look at the size of that thing!

Oh, and in "there are no errors in 2012" news: Did you see that ball Murphy missed, when we scored our first run? That was NOT called an error! He goes back, has a beat/bead on it, sticks his glove up, and it bounces off his glove. The definition of an error! But I shouldn't be surprised that it was called a hit. It's always a hit....

Eck and Wake said Murphy's ball "wasn't an easy play," though they noted it could have been caught. I disagree. An average outfielder makes that play easily. Murphy seems to look shaky any time he's running under a fly ball--that doesn't make the chance any tougher. It was a fly ball that he got to. He puts his glove up. The ball hits it. It's an easy play, one he didn't make. Error!

I was equally surprised that Aviles was given an error on his "bobble" on the bang-bang play early in the game. I would think that "home town favoritism" would have credited the Texas batter with a hit.

I was at the HOF many years ago, looking at the display of teams lockers. They have that room with a "locker" set up for all 30 teams, showing the uniform jersey, hat, glove, that sort of thing. I remember there was at least one locker with a sign saying that the team had changed jerseys that season, so a new one was unavailable for the display. It was mid summer, at the BASEBALL HALL OF FAME! It amazed me that they couldn't, I don't know, go to the gift shop and grab a new jersey for the team.

Is it possible that there's some reason why all these MLB entities have trouble with changes? Rights? Contracts? Legal nonsense?

No idea. And I actually meant to mention that display. I was there in June, and I noticed that the Orioles logo above their locker is that old one with the baseball diamond behind the bird! It was retired after the 2008 season!